Indeed, the upper classes barely noticed the peasants—except as sources of labor
and revenue. In the tenth century, the three-field system became more prevalent, and
the heavy moldboard plows that could turn wet, clayey northern soils came into
wider use. Such plows could not work around fences, and they were hard to turn:
thus was produced the characteristic “look” of medieval agriculture—long, furrowed
strips in broad, open fields. (Peasants knew very well which strips were “theirs” and
which belonged to their neighbors. See the late medieval lands of Toury in Map 7.8
on p. 277.) A team of oxen was normally used to pull the plow, but horses (more
efficient than oxen) were sometimes substituted. The result was surplus food and a
better standard of living for nearly everyone.
In search of still greater profits, some lords lightened the dues and services of
peasants temporarily to allow them to open up new lands by draining marshes and
cutting down forests. Other lords converted dues and labor services into money
payments, providing themselves with ready cash. Peasants, too, benefited from these
rents because their payments were fixed despite inflation. As the prices of agricultural
products went up, peasants became small-scale entrepreneurs, selling their chickens
and eggs at local markets and reaping a profit.
In the eleventh century, and increasingly so in the twelfth, peasant settlements
gained boundaries and focus: they became real villages. (For the example of Toury,
see Map 7.7 on p. 276.) The parish church often formed the center, next to which
was the cemetery. Then, normally crowded right onto the cemetery itself, were the
houses, barns, animals, and tools of the living peasants. Boundary markers—
sometimes simple stones, at other times real fortifications—announced not only the
physical limit of the village but also its sense of community. This derived from very
practical concerns: peasants needed to share oxen or horses to pull their plows; they
were all dependent on the village craftsmen to fix their wheels or shoe their horses.
Variety was the hallmark of peasant society. In Saxony and other parts of
Germany free peasants prevailed. In France and England most were serfs. In Italy
peasants ranged from small independent landowners to leaseholders; most were both,
owning a parcel in one place and leasing another nearby.
Where the power of kings was weak, peasant obligations became part of a larger
system of local rule. As landlords consolidated their power over their manors, they
collected not only dues and services but also fees for the use of their flour mills, bake
houses, and breweries. In some regions—parts of France and in Catalonia, for
example—some lords built castles and exercised the power of the “ban”: the right to
collect taxes, hear court cases, levy fines, and muster men for defense. These lords
